UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON ECOTERRORISM INCIDENT IS SUBJECT OF
TALK AT ISU ON OCT. 7

AMES, Iowa -- When the ecoterrorist group Earth Liberation Front
torched his campus building, horticulture professor John Wott lost more than
30 years of teaching materials. Wott will present a talk at Iowa State
University about the impact of the $6 million fire on the scientists and
research of the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of
Washington, Seattle.

The talk, "Ecoterrorism: 'Rising Out of the Ashes' after a University of
Washington Tragedy," will be at 4:10 p.m., Monday, Oct. 7, in 118
Horticulture Hall, at Iowa State University.

The Earth Liberation Front acknowledged their responsibility for the May
2001 fire that destroyed or displaced the work of more than 50 University of
Washington graduate students, faculty and staff.

"The Washington incident suggests plant scientists and research facilities
on many campuses, including Iowa State, may be targeted by ecoterrorist
groups," said William Graves, a professor of horticulture at Iowa
State.

Wott, who also directs the Washington Park Arboretum, will review the
circumstances surrounding the ecoterrorist act and discuss efforts to
rebuild the research center. He will present profiles of center scientists
and describe how the fire has curtailed their activities.

The talk is presented by the Department of Horticulture. It is free and open
to the public.